About Carter & White
Carter & White is a Dubai-founded luxury fashion and lifestyle brand with retail, e-commerce, and production operations. As we expand across the GCC, Europe, and other international markets, we are seeking a Finance Manager who can strengthen financial discipline and support sound commercial decisions.
Role purpose
The Finance Manager will lead financial reporting, cash-flow planning, controls, and performance analysis across Carter & White’s entities and stores. The role requires a hands-on finance leader who understands both the detail behind reliable accounts and the commercial decisions involved in expanding a luxury retail business.
Key responsibilities
Financial reporting and planning
- Lead the monthly, quarterly, and annual close, ensuring accurate trial balances, reconciliations, and management accounts.
- Prepare consolidated and entity-level financial reports with clear analysis of performance against budget and prior periods.
- Own the annual budget, rolling forecasts, and weekly and monthly cash-flow projections.
- Present concise financial insights and recommendations to the CEO and senior management.
- Coordinate statutory audits and ensure reporting deadlines are met across relevant jurisdictions.
Store and commercial performance
- Produce store-level profit and loss reports, covering sales, gross margin, payroll, rent, operating costs, and cash contribution.
- Analyze performance by market, store, channel, and product category; identify the causes of variances and recommend action.
- Evaluate new store proposals, including fit-out costs, deposits, inventory requirements, break-even sales, payback, and downside scenarios.
- Review underperforming stores and support decisions on corrective action, lease negotiations, or closure.
- Establish financial measures that help management assess pricing, markdowns, promotions, and distribution channels.
Cash, working capital, and controls
- Maintain a reliable rolling cash-flow forecast and actively manage liquidity, payment priorities, and working capital.
- Oversee accounts payable, receivables, banking, payment approvals, and supplier balance confirmations.
- Strengthen controls over point-of-sale transactions, cash and card settlements, refunds, discounts, and store expenses.
- Ensure timely bank, intercompany, and balance-sheet reconciliations.
- Monitor capital expenditure against approved budgets and maintain clear approval and documentation processes.
Inventory and production finance
- Oversee inventory accounting, stock-count controls, transfers, write-offs, and provisions for aged or slow-moving stock.
- Work with production and merchandising teams to establish accurate product and landed costs, including materials, manufacturing, freight, and duties.
- Analyze product margins and investigate differences between expected and actual costs.
Compliance, systems, and team leadership
- Oversee applicable tax, VAT, and financial compliance requirements, working with local advisers where necessary.
- Improve ERP processes, reporting quality, data integrity, and the speed of financial close.
- Lead, coach, and review the finance team, setting clear responsibilities, deadlines, and standards.
- Partner with retail, production, HR, and commercial teams while maintaining independent financial judgment.
Candidate requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field; ACCA, CPA, CMA, or equivalent qualification preferred.
- At least 8–10 years of relevant finance experience, including experience managing a finance function or team.
- Strong background in multi-store retail; fashion, luxury, consumer goods, or production experience is highly desirable.
- Demonstrated ability to prepare management accounts, budgets, cash-flow forecasts, and store-level profitability analysis.
- Solid knowledge of inventory accounting, product costing, internal controls, and audit processes.
- Experience with multi-entity and cross-border operations, including intercompany accounting and foreign currencies.
- Strong Excel and ERP skills, with the ability to turn financial data into clear management recommendations.
- Excellent attention to detail, sound commercial judgment, and the confidence to challenge assumptions constructively.
- Strong written and spoken English; Arabic is an advantage.
Success in this role
The successful candidate will deliver timely and dependable financial information, improve visibility over store profitability and cash requirements, strengthen controls, and help Carter & White make disciplined expansion decisions.
